The Texas 22nd Congressional district is a much valued constituency by all the parties. It covers a south-central portion of the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area. It also includes the cities of Rosenberg and La Marque as well as portions of Missouri City and Pearland, in Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston, and Brazoria counties. The district is known to be a favored seat of the Republicans and Democrats alike. The constituency was represented by the republican House Majority leader Tom DeLay for a period of 20 years. The leader resigned after allegations of corruption and went on to win the subsequent primary elections. After his resignation, there was a need to fill in the place vacated by the leader. Therefore a special election was held, which was won by Shelly Sekula-Gibbs who ran as a write-in candidate, and was sworn in on November 13, 2006. In the general elections, there were three candidates and was won by Democrat Nick Lampson in the previous election. In the upcoming election, it is left to see if the democrats are able to retain the seat or will it pass over to the republicans again.

Although both democrats and republicans have their fair chance of winning, the district is known for its heavy republican base. The district is dominated by Houston's heavily Republican western and southern suburbs, stretching from Sugar Land and Missouri City in the west and traveling eastward to portions of Pearland and Pasadena, all the way to the NASA Johnson Space Center, Clear Lake City, and Ellington Field. A recent poll indicates that 52 percent of district residents are Republicans. This constituency is known to have played a major role in voting George W. Bush over John Kerry by a 2 to 1 (66%-33%) margin, more than any other district that fell to the Democrats in 2006. The district has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of 15 in favor of the Republicans.

Among the candidates contesting for this seat, there are many known names as well. The candidates standing for this seat include former Sugar Land mayor Dean Hrbacek , former Pasadena mayor John Manlove, former John Cornyn Chief of Staff Pete Olson, Family District Judge Jim Squier, State Representative Bob Talton, and NASA contractor Ryan Rowley.